Naseer Al-Nahr, Arab News Staff

BAGHDAD, 13 February 2004 — The head of the US Central Command, Gen. John Abizaid, escaped injury yesterday after guerrillas hit an Iraqi civil defense force outpost that he was visiting with rocket-propelled grenades.

Moments after a convoy carrying Abizaid and his party pulled inside the cinderblock walls at the headquarters of the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps in Fallujah, an explosion rang out. Seconds later, two more explosions were heard near the rear of the compound, and US soldiers responded with a barrage of rifle and machine-gun fire.

The guerrillas fired three rocket-propelled grenades, and another pelted the party with small arms fire from a nearby mosque. The gunbattle lasted about six minutes.

No U.S. soldiers and no one in Abizaid’s party were injured. Residents said one Iraqi was grazed in the leg by a bullet and slightly injured.

Abizaid was accompanied by Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack, commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. After the gunbattle, Abizaid and Swannack canceled plans to walk into the city and instead returned to a US military base near Fallujah.

A defense official in Washington, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was likely that the insurgents had been tipped off to the presence of the senior general.

However, US officials, briefing reporters at military headquarters in Baghdad, said they were not prepared to make such a link. One noted that rocket attacks in the Fallujah area were relatively common.

In separate attacks, two US soldiers were killed and four wounded here on Wednesday. Three more soldiers were wounded in a mortar attack yesterday afternoon on a coalition base in the Iraqi capital.

“The soldiers were conducting a mounted patrol in western Baghdad at approximately 9:30 p.m. (1830 GMT Wednesday) when the attack occurred. The soldiers were evacuated to the 31st Combat Support Hospital for treatment where two soldiers succumbed to their wounds,” a US Central Command statement said.

The deaths bring to 257 the number of US soldiers killed in combat in Iraq since US President George W. Bush declared major hostilities over on May 1.

Meanwhile, a senior UN envoy said he had agreed with Iraq’s top Shiite leader that elections must be held, but he left open when and said the elections must occur in the best possible conditions.

UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi was speaking after meeting Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani who has called for direct elections before US authorities hand back sovereignty to Iraqis.

It was not clear if agreement on the need for elections to be well prepared meant Sistani might be flexible on his call for early elections that would likely favor the Shiites who make up around 60 percent of the population.

Washington favors an approach involving regional caucuses selecting delegates and has set a deadline of June 30 to hand over sovereignty, with elections only in 2005.

Recent suicide bombings and attacks on US troops have deepened fears about security at an election that could leave civilians vulnerable at polling stations. Two suicide bombings this week killed 100 Iraqis, mostly police and army recruits.

A UN team led by Brahimi is touring Iraq to assess the feasibility of early direct elections.

“Sistani is insistent on holding the elections and we are with him on this 100 percent because elections are the best means to enable any people to set up a state that serves their interest,” Brahimi said after two hours of talks with Sistani. There was no immediate comment from Sistani’s office.

“We are in agreement with the Sayyid (Sistani) that these elections should be prepared well and should take place in the best possible conditions so that it would bring the results which the Sayyid wants and the people of Iraq and the UN,” Brahimi said.

Brahimi is due to leave Iraq by Friday, a senior US-led administration official has said. The rest of the UN team has started touring provinces, and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan is expected to give his opinion on the elections on Feb. 21.

— Additional input from agencies